Progressives have long dominated the environmental movement, advocating government spending and bureaucratic oversight as the solution to climate change. Countless local and federal regulations have been aimed at mitigating environmental harm, often hampering productivity. Is this really the best way to preserve our planet? Some conservatives believe we should instead turn to innovative, market-driven solutions that balance environmental protection with economic growth.

Our guest, self-described “conservative environmentalist” Benji Backer, proposes new ways to discuss climate issues and encourages conservatives to contribute to the environmental debate. By engaging private landowners—who play a pivotal role in environmental stewardship—and implementing local solutions, Backer believes we can reduce waste and address the root of environmental degradation. Instead of looking to government to dictate our climate response, he says we should foster individual responsibility and focus on practical solutions, like opting for reusable items, improving recycling infrastructure, and encouraging thoughtful consumer behavior.

Benji Backer is the author of the new book, “The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions for a Sustainable Future.” He is the founder and executive chairman of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC), the largest right-of-center environmental organization in the country. A graduate of the University of Washington, Benji has been named to the Fortune 40 Under 40, Forbes 30 Under 30, GreenBiz 30 Under 30, and Grist 50 lists.

Follow Benji on X (formerly Twitter): @BenjiBacker

*Related reading*

https://benjibacker.com/

https://manhattan.institute/article/climate-change-work-is-a-reminder-that-the-basel-committee-has-outlived-its-usefulness 

https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/conservative-environmentalist-discusses-the-politics-of-climate-change-209125445666 

The pandemic transformed urban housing markets, prompting increased demand for residential space and spurring a shift toward remote work. Many remote employees have left large cities for smaller ones, but housing demand remains strong in major urban centers. As cities' populations fluctuate, the pro-development YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement has gained momentum with supporters advocating for more residential construction to bring down housing costs in major cities.

Judge Glock and Salim Furth discuss the pandemic's impact on housing and cities, touching on urban density's appeal in the time of remote work, heightened interest in suburban living, the value of city amenities, and the YIMBY movement's efforts to address housing affordability. They explore the need to expand the national housing supply, the advantages of building up versus building out, and who might benefit from upzoning. They also examine the motivations of NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) who oppose infrastructure development, and the importance of fiscal incentives in promoting residential construction.

Salim Furth is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. His research focuses on housing production and land use regulation. He frequently advises local governments and testifies before state and federal legislatures. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Rochester.

Follow Salim on X (formerly Twitter): @SalimFurth

*Related reading*

https://twitter.com/judgeglock/status/1767575049517625449 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-07/at-austin-s-yimbytown-fans-of-zoning-reform-seek-common-ground 

https://manhattan.institute/article/the-perfect-storm-hitting-homebuyers

https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/salim-furth

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, genome editing, and materials science are poised to dramatically change the way we live, work, and learn—but is that a good thing, or is it a prospect we should dread? As it stands, conservatives are divided on that question, with some embracing technological breakthroughs and others fearing the threat they pose to human dignity.    Jon Askonas has been urging conservatives to embrace the technological transformations of our time — and to use them to advance a distinctly conservative vision for human flourishing. This includes farming, the growth of families, work-from-home jobs, and even subscription-based media that addresses everyday Americans’ concerns.   Jon Askonas is a politics professor at the Catholic University of America where he works on the connections between the republican tradition, technology, and national security, and a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation. He is also a contributor to American Affairs, The New Atlantis, and Compact magazine.

Follow Jon on X (formerly Twitter): @JonAskonas

Related reading

https://www.compactmag.com/article/why-conservatism-failed/

https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2023/11/technological-stagnation-is-a-choice/

https://politics.catholic.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/askonas-jonathan/index.html 

New York has long been at the forefront of the drug crisis. In 2022, over 3,000 city residents died of a drug overdose, the highest number on record. The proliferation of inexpensive yet lethal drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, poses an escalating challenge to New York City. However, there is hope to tackle these issues through collaboration and partnerships within the city’s criminal justice system and district attorneys.

Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York Bridget Brennan has been confronting the drug epidemic since she took the position in 1998. She has addressed drug offenses across all five boroughs and has seen the changing nature of drug challenges in the city, from crack cocaine to prescription pills to fentanyl. In this episode, Bridget discusses the impact of potent synthetic opioids, and the strategies of drug prosecution, including targeting high-level distributors and addressing drug markets in specific areas.

Bridget G. Brennan was appointed as New York City’s Special Narcotics in 1998 and is the first woman to hold the position. She oversees a staff of approximately 200 legal and support personnel. The agency has its own budget for operating expenses and receives funding from the city, state, and federal government.

**Related reading & links**

https://www.snpnyc.org/about-us/

https://www.city-journal.org/article/...

In their efforts to ensure their children's happiness, a growing number of millennial and Gen X parents are turning to therapists, school psychologists, and other mental health professionals for help. Yet there is mounting evidence that this therapeutic turn has backfired. Rather than inculcate the virtues of self-discipline and independence, these efforts have yielded a generation of children filled with anxiety, isolation, and a profound sense of helplessness—and in her new book Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up, Abigail Shrier explains why.

After speaking with hundreds of parents and adolescents, drawing on psychiatric studies and literature, in addition to her own lived experience with friends and family, Abigail offers a powerful critique of the booming mental health industry, and offers an alternate vision for fostering healthy, hard-working, and resilient children. In this special episode of Manhattan Insights, The Free Press Senior Editor Emily Yoffe (moderator) sits down with Abigail to discuss her findings.

Abigail Shrier is the author of the new book, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up. She received the Barbara Olson Award for Excellence and Independence in Journalism in 2021. Her best-selling book, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters (2020), was named a “Best Book” by The Economist and the Times (of London). It has been translated into ten languages. She holds an A.B. from Columbia College, where she received the Euretta J. Kellett Fellowship; a B.Phil. from the University of Oxford; and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She has written for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal for a number of years.

(Recorded on Wednesday, February 28th, 2024)

**Related readings & links**

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/716567/bad-therapy-by-abigail-shrier/ 

The school choice movement gained significant momentum in the wake of the pandemic shutdowns, which exposed the weaknesses of traditional public schools and the challenges of remote learning. As parents became increasingly aware of the quality and content of their children's education, many began to explore alternative schooling options. By offering a diverse range of choices, including charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling, the movement has inspired parents to find the best educational options for their children. Despite this, advocates of school choice continue to face opposition from teachers unions and skeptics across the political spectrum.

One such advocate is Corey DeAngelis, who has been a proponent of school choice since his time attending a magnet school in San Antonio, Texas. In this conversation, he discusses school choice advocates' recent victories in elections, the involvement of teachers unions in social activism, the role of faith-based institutions in education, the school choice playbook, the legality of religious charter schools, the gold standard school choice playbook, and activism and influencing change.

Corey A. DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has been labeled the “school choice evangelist” and called “the most effective school choice advocate since Milton Friedman.” He is a regular on Fox News and frequently appears in The Wall Street Journal. DeAngelis is also the executive director at Educational Freedom Institute, a senior fellow at Reason Foundation, an adjunct scholar at Cato Institute, and a board member at Liberty Justice Center. He holds a Ph.D. in education policy from the University of Arkansas.

Follow Corey on X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/DeAngelisCorey

Related reading & links

https://www.wsj.com/articles/school-choice-is-the-solution-to-teacher-strikes-newton-mass-fe82dc98

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/dr-corey-a-deangelis-ph-d/the-parent-revolution/9781546006862/ 

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson has brought homelessness back into the national legal spotlight. The case revolves around the question of whether the homeless have a constitutional right to camp on public property, and its outcome could overturn prior lower court rulings that have contributed to the West Coast's homelessness crisis.

Six years ago, the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco first ruled in Martin v. Boise that imposing criminal penalties for sleeping and camping in public violated the constitution. Since that decision, the amount of recorded homeless and deaths among homeless people has increased dramatically in affected states. Moreover, lawsuits brought by residents frustrated with homeless encampments in their neighborhoods have forced some cities to keep streets clear of camps, further complicating adherence to the Ninth Circuit's judgments.

The Supreme Court's ruling, expected later this year, will shape how cities address the challenge of homelessness in America.

Manhattan Institute senior fellow Stephen Eide discusses the potential impact on homelessness policies with Liz Mitchell, a partner at Umhoffer, Mitchell and King and lead attorney for the LA Alliance for Human Rights in a historic lawsuit forcing the City and County of Los Angeles to address homelessness. She was formerly an attorney with the LA City Attorney’s Office in the Police Litigation Unit and was a prosecutor where she handled criminal cases focusing on violent and sexual crimes.

Related reading & links

A Chance for Legal Sanity on Homelessness | by Judge Glock for City Journal

https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-chance-for-legal-sanity-on-homelessness 

Pursue an Orderly Streets Agenda | by Stephen Eide for City Journal

https://www.city-journal.org/article/pursue-an-orderly-streets-agenda 

Profile page: Elizabeth Mitchell, Umhofer, Mitchell & King LLP

https://www.umklaw.com/elizabeth-mitchell 

Radical DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) ideology has overtaken elite universities and, increasingly, American public life. Few reporters have followed the "woke" takeover of American universities and the corrosion of its institutions more closely than our guest.

Our guest Aaron Sibarium, a Yale University alum, now reports on elite institutions that he is the very product of and investigates the pervasive influence of "woke" bureaucracy and ideals in higher education. His extensive and in-depth reporting helped lead to the uncovering of a plagiarism scandal and subsequent resignation of former Harvard president Claudine Gay. 

Aaron Sibarium is a staff reporter for the Washington Free Beacon and one of the reporters whose work contributed to the resignation of Harvard president Claudine Gay. He was recently dubbed the "Gen Z Investigative Reporter... Rocking Conservative Media" by Politico Magazine.

Follow Aaron on X: https://x.com/aaronsibarium

Related reading:

https://freebeacon.com/campus/as-harvard-dean-claudine-gay-weakened-faculty-plagiarism-policy-the-corporation-leaned-on-that-policy-to-try-to-save-her-job/

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/25/aaron-sibarium-conservative-media-00117899

https://www.city-journal.org/article/claudine-gays-dei-empire 

The field of criminology has transformed in the last quarter century. Evidence-based crime policy has been replaced by misperceptions about the nature of crime and criminal offenders. Concurrently, progressive policies and programs have also reshaped the criminal justice system. However, 70 years of social science research shows that "social control" is one the most important factors in preventing crime.   Professor John MacDonald writes on social control: "While community safety is primarily produced by informal social control [family, friends, neighbors, schools], high-crime areas are in particular need of formal social control like the presence of effective police and prosecutors when neighbors are unable to regulate the conduct of public spaces. So why have progressive criminal justice reforms in the past several years forgotten about social control?"   To discuss social control and returning to an evidence-based crime policy, guest host Rafael Mangual (Nick Ohnell Fellow) talks with Professor MacDonald. John MacDonald is a professor of criminology and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Follow Rafael on X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rafa_Mangual 

Related reading:

https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/lessons-for-criminal-justice-reformers 

https://www.city-journal.org/article/understand-and-act-on-the-realities-of-criminal-offending 

Two decades ago, a four-year college degree was widely regarded as the key to boosting incomes. However, recent years have witnessed a paradigm shift in conventional wisdom about the value of a college education. Over half say college isn’t worth the cost, compared with 40% a decade ago. Are the skeptics right? What’s the average return? Who is it working for, and who isn’t it?

Two prominent perspectives on the value of a college education appear to be in stark contrast, making it challenging to reconcile them. On one hand, there's the belief that opportunities for those without a college degree are dwindling, and the relative worth of obtaining a degree is on the rise. On the other hand, there's the concern that the U.S. workforce is now oversaturated with graduates burdened by debt and grappling with underemployment.

For expert insight, guest host Mene Ukueberuwa (Wall Street Journal editorial page writer) was joined by Preston Cooper, who researches the costs and benefits of higher education and how policy can improve students’ success beyond college graduation.

Preston Cooper is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. 

Follow Preston Cooper on X (formerly known as Twitter): https://twitter.com/PrestonCooper93 

Related reading:

Check out Preston's latest piece, "Should the government write off uncollectible student loans?": https://blog.freopp.org/should-the-government-write-off-uncollectible-student-loans/ 

Preston's author page at FREOPP: https://blog.freopp.org/author/preston-cooper/